Earth Changes

Mass movements of people across the world are likely to be one of the most dramatic effects of climate change in the coming century, a study suggests.

The report, from the aid agency Tearfund, raises the spectre of hundreds of millions of environmental refugees and says the main reason will be the effects of climate - from droughts and water shortages, from flooding and storm surges and from sea-level rise.

Two environmentalists spent about four hours Monday perched on a ledge over an entrance to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building to protest what they said is the agency's suppression of information on global warming.

The first week he was in New Orleans, Juan Sifford was recruited on a street corner to tear down a chain-link fence and dig up some bamboo roots. The contractor promised him and three other workers $100 each for the job.

When the work was done and the men piled back into the contractor's truck, he drove them to what Sifford calls "a really bad neighborhood. He climbs down off the truck and he gives us $120. Not individually, collectively. Then he showed me his sidearm."

TOKYO An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 rattled a group of Japanese islands in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo early Tuesday, Japan's weather agency said. No tsunami warning was issued.

NEW YORK - The U.S. Northeast, the nation's top heating oil consuming region, will face colder-than-normal weather during the early winter period, private forecaster WSI Corp. predicted on Monday.

The November to January outlook, following the mildest winter on record last year, comes as U.S. energy companies built up healthy inventories of heating oil and natural gas ahead of seasonal cold weather.

Now, a Boston photojournalist is following in his footsteps with a very different purpose. He's reshooting Washburn's images to demonstrate global warming's impacts. Ed Schoenfeld of CoastAlaska News reports from Juneau.

ATHENS - Torrential rains caused flooding in parts of southern Greece, just three days after storms triggered a state of emergency elsewhere in the region, authorities said.

Around 30 homes were flooded in the southern Peloponnese and several occupants had to be rescued by firemen. Three cars were swept away by torrents, while landslides halted road traffic in parts of the region.

WASHINGTON - The world - especially the Western United States, the Mediterranean region and Brazil - will likely suffer more extended droughts, heavy rainfalls and longer heat waves over the next century because of global warming, a new study forecasts.

But the prediction of a future of nasty extreme weather also includes fewer freezes and a longer growing season.

Three moderate quakes have shaken the island of Mindoro south of the Philippine capital, but there were no reports of damage.

All three quakes had epicenters about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) northeast of Calapan town but were also felt by residents in Manila, about 140 kilometres (88 miles) away, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

A 5.2 quake at 10:30 pm (1430 GMT) Friday was followed by another of 3.7 at 1:27 am Saturday and a third of 4.7 at 8:09 am, the institute added.

The US Geological Survey however measured the quakes at 5.8, 5.6 and 5.5.